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Mysterious treasure hidden in a rich cultural and archaeological almost unimaginable, it is difficult to think of Egypt without mentioning the Sphinx, the Pyramids of Giza, Luxor, the Valley of the Kings and the Nile. Besides being the open-air museum world's largest Egypt also offers many luxurious holiday complex in the Red Sea, many of whom put a diving at your fingertips, a spectacular snorkeling and windsurfing.Cairo:airo is the capital of Egypt, where millions of people live that make a real metropolitan traffic and movement, is also the largest city in Africa and the Middle East. The city is a magical place that does not cease to amaze visitors with its wonders, with the most impressive monuments and buildings which offers loans as well as areas arquologicas and museums, it is an undisputed destination to visit if you are in Egypt. It is also known as the "City of a Thousand minarets," It originated in the Pharaonic era but recently in the 642 after an invasion, where they erected the camp that would then Cairo.Luxor:This wonderful city that has received several names in its history, is divided between the banks of the River Nile, east and west, and being only a few meters from Cairo, also represents another beauty that can not be accessed. With a past rich in architecture and history, can not fail to mention the temples of Luxor and Karnak, sites really formidable. The city is mysteriously beautiful, and the visitor can learn a little more about the secrets of Egypt, a unique destination for concocer and enjoy a unique experience.Edfu:Also known as Dyeb by ancient Egyptians, and as Apolinopolis Magna by the Greeks and Romans, the town of Edfu, a destination of astonishing beauty, lies within walking distance of Luxor, and as she is, owner of great mysteries, such as what is your temple of 237 BC, it is the best preserved and most beautiful around the country, and that is undoubtedly one of the strongest attractions of the place.

Kom Ombo:This temple that was born during the reign, which is located within walking distance of the Nile, is divided into two parts, which are solely dedicated to two gods of triads, so it begins, the wonderful mysteries that embodies the temple. The first part is then devoted to the trio of Sobek (crocodile god), HathorTasenetnofret (the goddess sister) and Panebtawy (the (his mother) and Jonsu (his brother), and the second part of the triad of Horus, Mr of the countries. The place carries an air of mysterious and captivating, making the visitor feel he has traveled through time in the size and space, and that nothing of what separates the secrets of Egypt.Aswan:Its origin dates from 2575-2143 a. C., and this is the most important city in Upper Egypt, initially, called Swenet and was the main market of exchange and is the main means of marketing that interacted with Egyptian Nubia. It also was recognized for being the point from which the valuable material was extracted from the granite, which is towards the conocidasestatuas and buildings. The city is a marvel in beauty, that even today we bring the past with magnificent structures such as the Unfinished Obelisk, the Mausoleum of Agha Jan, and even modern High Dam and the Nubian Museum, among many other things. A place full of history and testimony.Nubia and Lake Nasser:The original Nubian ceased to exist long ago, since the construction of the Aswan Dam, Lake Nasser as the covered completely, and instead of just the name is primitive. But by the eagerness of trying to salvage a little of their history, have been undertaken since the mid-90 ', and cruise ship visits, which makes several stops to visit the buildings that have been rescued from the water.

The origins of the present-day Cairo can be traced back to the Egyptian capital of Memphis, which is believed to have been founded in the early 4th millennium BC near the head of the Nile delta, south of the present city. The city spread to the north along the east bank of the Nile, and its location has commanded political power ever since. It was there that the Romans constructed their city called Babylon. Muslim Arabs who immigrated there from the Arabian Peninsula in AD 641 later called the site Al Fustat. When a dissident branch of Muslims known as the Fatimid conquered Egypt in 969, they established their headquarters in the city and called it Al-Qahira (Cairo). In the 12th century Christian Crusaders attacked Cairo, but they were defeated by a Muslim army from Syria, led by Saladin, who founded the Ayyubid Dynasty in the city. T

he Mamluke established their capital in Cairo in the 13th century, and the city became renowned throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe. Cairo declined after the mid-14th century, however, when the epidemic of bubonic plague known as the Black Death struck the city, decimating its population.

The Ottomans conquered Cairo in 1517, and ruled there until 1798, when the area was captured during an expedition led by Napoleon I of France. Ottoman rule was restored in 1801, but by the middle of the 19th century Egypt's foreign debt and the weakness of the Ottoman Empire invited greater European influence in Cairo. The Viceroy Ismail Pasha, who ruled from 1863 to 1879, built many European-style structures in the city and used the occasion of the opening of the Suez Canal northeast of Cairo in 1869 to showcase the city for the European powers. However, much of the development that took place during this period was funded by foreign loans, which led to an increase in the national debt and left Cairo vulnerable to control by Great Britain. The British effectively ruled Egypt from Cairo from the late 19th century through the period after World War I (1914-1918), when the foreign presence in Cairo began to diminish.

Cairo's population grew rapidly in the in the war years, reaching 2 million by the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Since that time the city has continued to boom in terms of both population and development. Some of this population growth has resulted from the influx of refugees from cities along the Suez Canal that were damaged in the Arab-Israeli wars of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Many new residential, commercial, and governmental structures have changed the city's landscape. Tourist facilities have proven an important source of foreign revenue for Egypt, and have thus drawn heavy investment from the government.

Cairo has also benefited from Egypt's growing international prominence. The founding of the Arab League in 1945 made Cairo a political capital, as has Egypt's ongoing participation in the Middle East peace process. However, in 1981 the city witnessed a tragic event when Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat was assassinated at a military parade by Islamic fundamentalists within the Egyptian army. In 1992 an earthquake that killed more than 500 people and injured about 6500 others shook the city.

Also, Cairo is an important centre for publishing and other forms of media. Its newspapers, which include Al-Ahram (founded in 1875) and Al-Akhbar (1952), exert wide influence within the Islamic world, as does Radio Cairo. The rich cultural life is further enhanced by local theatre, cinema, dance, and music, in addition to the city's vibrant community of journalists and fiction writers; Cairo residents take great pride in the work of Nobel Prize-winning author and Cairo native Naguib Mahfouz, whose fiction has provided a chronicle of the city.

film recently opened in Cairo has revived a controversy about the depiction of Copts in Egyptian drama.The film, called One-Nil, tells the story of a Christian woman who is granted a divorce but cannot remarry because of the strict rules of the Egyptian Coptic Church.The film is the latest in a series of dramatic works which focus on Christian issues and characters.Starring Elham Shahin and Khaled Abou El Naja, the movie deals with the social circumstances of the Egyptian middle class.Within its plot and subplots, the film follows the tragic story of the heroine who wants to remarry.She rejects a solution proposed by her lawyer that would allow her to divorce and get married again - convert to Islam - and instead conducts an illicit affair with the hero played by El Naja.The rules of the Coptic Church prohibit its members from getting a divorce, with two exceptions: if one party proves adultery by the other or if one of the two parties converts to another religion.Critics say the film slanders Christian marriage.Najib Gabriel, a lawyer, submitted an application to court to stop the film from being shown, although he later retracted it.Mr Gabriel told BBC that he believed the film was "a message to the Church to amend the Holy Book, which is unimaginable, or to encourage the 4,000 divorced Coptic women in Egypt to rebel against the Coptic Pope". The film's producers defend the work by saying it does not demand anything of the Church and that they merely wish to draw attention to the predicament of some Egyptian Christian women.Sharp criticismThe film is not the first of its kind to cause controversy.About eight years ago a dispute raged when a TV drama series entitled Time of Roses depicted a Christian woman married to a Muslim man.This subject has become highly sensitive and has led to sectarian violence in many Egyptian areas.But it was another film entitled I Love Cinema, whose writer and producer were both Christians, which was the most controversial.Its plot was considered by some to be critical of very religious Coptic Christians, who fast for about 200 days a year.The film was also criticised for shooting some of its scenes in a non-Coptic church although it was meant to depict a Coptic church.Yusuf Sidhum, the editor of Watany newspaper, who takes a particular interest in Coptic affairs, says that artists' freedom of expression cannot be curbed.While a movie cannot be expected to provide solutions to complex issues such as divorce among Copts, he believes an artist's freedom to focus on social problems must not be limited."I cannot understand how an artistic work can be proscribed under the pretext of respect for the feelings of a few people. If we allowed ourselves to use respect for feelings to stop any artistic work, all forms of innovation and art would dry up," he says.The issue then is artistic freedom versus respect for the feelings of the few at a time charged with sectarian tension.By Sherif MaherBBC Arabic Service